Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2016/10/03

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Subject: [Leica] Converting Trouble into Medicine
From: jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols)
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2016 10:51:45 -0500
References: <6a57b7ba-307a-13f3-3b87-abffdcfc7314@lighttube.net> <CAH1UNJ0y-ZLujPD-krcLUMesDb95E2u5T5Nf1SoOAGGn3UWsDA@mail.gmail.com>

If so, I am willing to take the risk.  Yellow jacket stings can bring on 
anaphylactic shock in sensitive individuals, which can lead to death.

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA

On 10/3/2016 10:29 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:
> Fascinating.
>
> I had to look up what yellow jackets were, and came across this sentence:
>
> "Despite having drawn the fear and loathing of humans, yellow jackets are
> in fact important predators of pest insects"
>
> Does that mean that you are at risk of a pest infestation now, and a
> different set of problems?
>
> Cheers
> Jayanand
>
> On Sun, Oct 2, 2016 at 11:01 PM, Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Several weeks ago, I discovered a Yellow Jacket nest in my back yard.  I
>> kept a wary eye on it, but worried that my lawn maintenance guy might get
>> stung.
>>
>> On Friday, the local newspaper, The Tullahoma News, ran an article on a
>> Winchester, TN resident who traps Yellow Jackets, Hornets, and Guinea
>> Wasps, and freezes them, eventually packing them in dry ice and shipping
>> them to the lab of AKL Source Material in Pennsylvania.  There, the venom
>> sacs are extracted by hand and used to create anti-venom.  I gave him a
>> call and told him about my nest.  He arrived yesterday afternoon as I was
>> watching a football game.
>>
>> I decided to document the process.  The first photo shows the nest
>> entrance as I found it, essentially a hole in the ground laid bare by the
>> passage of many insects.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Yellow+Jacket+Nest.TIFF.html
>>
>> Pete Waldenmaier's "BeeBusters" truck.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Bee+Busters+Truck.tif.html
>>
>> The vacuum trap, essentially a tank vacuum cleaner with a special
>> collector trap.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/The+Vacuum+Trap.tif.html
>>
>> The trap in position at the nest hole.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Trap+in+Position.tif.html
>>
>> Final adjustments.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Final+Adjustments.tif.html
>>
>> After about an hour, the insect stream slows, so Pete hammers on the
>> ground to disturb them, and more start flying out.  The vacuum captures
>> most of them immediately.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Hammering+on+
>> the+Ground.tif.html
>>
>> His truck is filled with support equipment, including a freezer and
>> bottles of carbon dioxide.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Support+Equipment.tif.html
>>
>> The final product is a bottle of Yellow Jackets.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Yellow+Jackets.tif.html
>>
>> Pete stuns the insects with carbon dioxide before placing them in the
>> freezer to die.  To be usable, the insects must remain frozen until the
>> venom sacs are harvested at the lab.
>>
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Stunning+with+
>> Carbon+Dioxide.tif.html
>>
>> While he had this operation going on at my house, he had a parallel
>> operation going on about 15 miles away.  I'm told there are only about 40
>> of these collectors nationwide.
>>
>> Comments and critiques welcomed and appreciated.
>>
>> --
>> Jim Nichols
>> Tullahoma, TN USA
>>
>>
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>>
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In reply to: Message from jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols) ([Leica] Converting Trouble into Medicine)
Message from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] Converting Trouble into Medicine)